Northern Roots tweaks approved

The visitor centre, events facility, and forestry depot have been reconfigured on the Oldham urban farm project, while the market garden has been fleshed out.

The schemes make up the first two phases of the 160-acre Northern Roots project at Snipe Clough, an Oldham Council initiative supported by consultants Planit, Arup, Plan Red, and LK Group. They were approved at the local authority’s planning committee meeting last week.

Changes to Northern Roots buildings

• Application reference number: FUL/352515/24

Results from site investigations led to the rethink of placement for the Northern Roots visitor centre, events facility, and a forestry depot. Planning permission had been granted for this part of the project in October 2022. However, since appointing main contractor Willmott Dixon the presence of three former mine shafts has meant they need to shift places.

The visitor centre is now east of its original post. It will continue to include a café and shop, as well as multi-use spaces that are capable of being subdivided. Designed by JMA Architects, it will also hold a shop that will sell produce from the market garden nearby.

The events building is now at the centre of the six-acre plot, but otherwise not very much changed. The forestry depot is also in a similar position, but instead of comprising two separate buildings it has been transformed into a single structure, with offices on its first floor and a full-height workshop area.

Revised plans, also include an upgrade to the car park at Kings Road and Honeywell Lane to have 30 spaces, of which four would be accessible and five would have EV chargers. The cycle parking provision has also been removed.

There is also more parking provided between the forestry depot and the events building: 18 standard bays and five accessible ones. The visitor centre has an additional 10 parking spaces, of which four will have EV charging capability.

Market garden details

• Application reference number: RES/352568/24

Approval for the market garden in principle was approved in 2022, with this application revealing more detailed designs for the five-acre plot.

The urban farm will include be a community hub, polytunnels, service yard, barn, agroforestry plot, underground attenuation tank, and a wildflower meadow. There will also be a chicken coop, kitchen garden, growing beds, and apiaries.

With sustainability in mind, there will be compost toilets, compost bins, and a SUDS swale.

There will also be a play area for children. A solar farm is also proposed, but makes up another planning application that was not discussed at the meeting.